Creating Powerful PowerPoint Presentations

Did the above title stand out for you?  I hope so because this is going to be a fun article to read!  So grab some coffee, some tea, open your mind. Get ready to learn how to create a presentation that will blow people’s socks off!

A word of caution for software developers that do not like presenting:  Do not read this article.  This article is meant to help the developers out there that have to deal with software presentations!  To those that get to go through the joys of presenting to large crowds, or small crowds, I really hope this guide helps you on your journey through creating a high impact PowerPoint presentation.

A Software Developer’s Guide to Creating a Powerful PowerPoint Presentation

There is nothing hated more amongst people attending conferences or meetings than dreaded PowerPoint presentations.  They definitely serve their purpose, however they do tend to take away from a lot of the key elements of the presentations.  If you are thinking about putting together a PowerPoint presentation, you are probably thinking about the PowerPoint right now!  If you are, you are already off track!

Here is my quick explanation to how to put together a winning PowerPoint presentation.  I will be using a real world example in order to more clearly illustrate each step.

What is your key focus?

Your key focus is not your PowerPoint, it is your message, and how you will get it across to the people attending your presentation.  Remember, PowerPoint is just one of the many tools you will be drawing on while giving your presentation.  Although I will not be getting into presentation style (that is for a later posting), It is important you realize this as you create your PowerPoint presentation. 

Once you realize that your key focus is to get the message across, and not to have a PowerPoint presentation that has every detail on the topic in it, you are ready to start.  I know it sounds silly, but 90% of the people out there go wrong on this first key step!

Start the Journey

What are you really doing in your presentation is taking your audience on a journey, and you are their guide.  Your goal should be that your audience sits back, relaxes, and enjoys the story.  They should enjoy the story so much that they take notes if needed, and memorize and lock in a lot of the key points you are making.  By the end of the presentation, your audience should have a feeling that they have seen a great movie, and loved it!

Your communication style should be conversational, your slides should be simple and to the point, and the transitions between each slide should be simple and to the point.  Your words are what a narrator is to a documentary.  Make sure your words match the slides, and flow in perfect harmony from slide to slide, scene to scene.  Are you getting in the mood now?

Create a Title Page that Attracts and is clear

The title page should have a riveting and title, and draw attention of all to your presentation.  You should clearly define your role here as well, and take this time to explain your relevant experience in the subject area.  Have you ever been in a bookstore and just browsed through books or magazines?  Why do you pick up the book?  Yes sometimes you know the author so you pick it up and know it will be good, but in some cases, you read the title and go, “Oh, that sounds like a great book!” so you pick it up!  Make sure your titles are bang on!  They will get you to the next step.

Create your Agenda

This is critical, as it sets the expectation for the meeting, and gives everyone a heads up in terms of what you will be covering in your presentation.  It will give people something to look forward to as you continue through some less interesting sections of the presentation.  To continue on with the book analogy, you have now picked up the book, and want to see the index to see if the book covers what you want to read about.  If not, you might put the book down and go in a different direction, and choose a different book.

By the way, your agenda doesn’t have to be one page, it can be multiple pages.  Remember, your PowerPoint is not the presentation, it is facilitating the presentation.

Use Simple Background Elements

Have you ever seen the busy Microsoft presentations?  A lot of times they over do the backgrounds and have so much going on that it really takes away from the actual message on the slide.  My tips here are to use white, or keep it really simple.  If you must use images, make sure that the images are relevant to the slide you are showing.  Have you ever seen Steve Jobs present?  His slide backgrounds are clear and crisp.  This is what really draws attention onto the message on each slide, and to his presentation.

 
Figure 1 – Simple Gray Background

Use Large Font with Small Focused Points

While you might think putting a lot of points on your slide will make it seem like you know what you are talking about, there couldn’t be anything further from the truth.  More is less with PowerPoint.  If you must have text, make sure it is bold, at least 30 point, and a nice easy to read font.  Make sure it contrasts with the background color you are using.

Figure 2 – Simple Bullets, Large Text, No Bullets

I love Apple’s presentations that simply do not have any bullets at all.  They don’t need them, as they are clear, and spaced out.

Figure 3 – Bad example of far too much information

Take a look for a second at the above Windows Vista Architecture example.  Seriously is anyone impressed by all the stuff?  It’s just a pointless slide really, you would be better off to show a box with Windows Vista Architecture, and WinFX shown, and then to the right or left, show a few key points on what WinFX gives you.  Save the information overload for something people can download or view later.

Figure 4 – Bad example of too many bullet points.

Again, although this is much cleaner, the non bright white text on a dull background, with yellow headings makes this very hard to read.  The bullet points are also far too long and not very thought out.  If you ever have sub points within a PowerPoint presentation, this should be a warning flag to you to delete some information, or re-structure your slide.  The golden rule is: “Use Huge Font! Less is More!”.

New Sections Should Have Title Pages

Whenever you watch a movie you see this effect.  Steve Jobs uses this allot.  He will clear his PowerPoint completely sometimes, and leave room for anticipation of the next portion, and it lets him talk, and all eyes are on him.  Alternatively, he will put a big message on the screen, in huge font, and put nothing else on the slide.

Figure 5 – Simple yet extremely effective title. Less is more.

Close with an Overview

A fantastic way to close your PowerPoint is with an overview of everything you discussed during the slides!  This re-affirms everything you spoke about, while at the same time, it allows you to let your audience know “Hey, he covered everything, and my expectations were met!”

Practice like there is No Tomorrow

Steve Jobs presentations come so naturally, it’s tempting to just say he is just natural at presentations.  You would be completely wrong!  Steve Jobs is obsessive about every detail in his presentations.  He spends an un imaginable amount of time planning every detail to the most minute detail.  He runs through it over and over again until it is completely natural to him.  Therefore when he presents, sure he gets nervous, but he has already presented it a hundred times, and it starts looking natural!

In Closing

We covered a lot in the first of a series of articles intended to help you create a powerful presentation, and blow peoples socks off!  Please remember to take the following rules into consideration whenever you load PowerPoint:

• Create a Title that “Attracts”
• Begin with An Agenda
• Use Simple Background Elements
• Use Large Fonts with Small Focused Points
• New Sections Should have Title Pages
• Close with An Overview

I hope you enjoyed our journey through creating a powerful PowerPoint presentation!  I enjoyed writing it, and hope it is beneficial to you!  Over the next few weeks we will take you through the rest of the important points in a presentation: Presentation Style, Handouts, and Software Demonstrations.

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